Saturn's Gold

Set in the dangerous world of Rome after Julius Caesar's death, the young Aulus Torquatus faces ruin after the theft of money he was storing for his friend Octavian. His family is torn apart by civil war, his household terrified and suspicious after a brutal murder. Only his sister and his secretary can help him save his life. But someone close to him has turned against him. Who can it be? More

Aulus Manlius Torquatus, twenty-three years old, has everything: a wealthy patrician family, military distinction under Julius Caesar, and the friendship of Caesar's heir, Octavian. But this is 43 BC, and Rome's warlords are engaged in a killing spree, slaughtering the rich to finance their war against Caesar's killers. Torquatus' republican father and brother are dead, and his mother has not forgiven him for changing sides. Octavian has put him in charge of a frighteningly empty State Treasury, and he has reluctantly been persuaded to store a large amount of Octavian's cash at his suburban farm. When that money is stolen, he must track it down or face ruin. He suspects Octavian's colleague Marcus Antonius, who has always claimed that the money was his and that letters authorising its removal were forged. Torquatus' household is as damaged as the state, and after the violent death of his steward Torquatus must track down a murderer as well as a thief.Not that he has no help: his secretary Demetrius runs the household with quiet efficiency, diligently archiving the family's correspondence in his spare time. The new slave Iucundus, too, seems a quick and clever lad. And Torquatus' sister Manlia brings him much-needed support. Manlia's contacts among the women of Rome suggest that a political plot is being hatched, an idea Torquatus rejects: Rome's rulers have shown how they deal with dissent. But Antonius, Torquatus realises is also trying to find the money. Why doesn't he know where it is, if he was behind the theft? Torquatus is attacked in the Forum, and left for dead: next day Octavian shows him an anonymous letter accusing him of forgery. Iucundus comes under suspicion for the Forum attack, and when the master's missing writing-tablets are found among Iucundus' things Torquatus calls in the torturers, before following up his only clue, a brief message scratched on a bit of lead. As he and Antonius race each other for the money, another death in his household seems motiveless. And then Octavian introduces a further problem for Torquatus to solve: his great-uncle Julius Caesar's papers, lost on campaign. Octavian suspects Torquatus' brother, long dead, of stealing them. Can Torquatus find them and clear his name of one last, hideous accusation?

I have been a writer all my life, but I'm hugely excited to have published my first book on Smashwords. I love historical detective fiction, and never could find enough new authors, who could write a good sentence, tell a good yarn, and really knew their Rome. After I'd hung around in bookshops and on the internet hoping in vain that one of my favourite authors - Lindsey Davis, David Wishart, Bruce Macbain and Rosemary Rowe, since you ask - might have just brought out another story, I decided that I'd like to do it myself.At first I thought a book about Cicero might be good, but Steven Saylor's early books are all based on his cases. Then I thought about Julia, daughter of Augustus, and I'm keeping her up my sleeve. And then into my mind came a proper Roman aristocrat, tall, good-looking (naturally!) and just ready to suffer in the cause of Art. Not to mention his delightful sister. I just hope these characters can live for you as they have for me.When I'm not reading or writing or cursing the stupid plot that doesn't want to hang together, or the ridiculous characters who've all suddenly decided to go to Baiae for a holiday when I want them in Rome, I garden and cook and sing and attend to my cat. Every now and then a visitor arrives and then I clean the house.What else? I have a PhD in English Literature, I've been a teacher and a librarian plus a whole lot of other things. All of it goes into what I write, I guess.

The Roma Capta Series is set in ancient Rome at the time when the Republic had collapsed and the Empire was being formed. All the stories revolve around the series' main character,Aulus Manlius Torquatus. He is a senator, a soldier and a friend of Octavian, later Augustus, the first Roman emperor. At the start of the series, Torquatus is only 21, but then Octavian himself is only 20, far too young to be consul and one of the three men who have seized power and now rule the state.

Torquatus has an unfortunate habit of discovering dead bodies, but with the help of his sister Manlia and later his wife Cornelia he unravels the mysteries behind them. Sometimes these crimes are simple, sordid affairs, but often there's a political dimension and Torquatus fears for his own life and position.

He is also helped, and sometimes hindered, by his slaves, such as Trofimus, his steward, who knows just when to bring a jug of wine, Victor, who has quite a way with a toga, and Felix, who is also his half-brother.